Then came what I called her phase 2, where she would have a random man with her when we met up or when I came over for dinner. Those sucked because I was stuck there having to play nice, while wanting to get up and walk out. I wouldn’t, though. It wasn’t Kyle’s fault my mother hadn’t told me about the plan. He was just as much a victim of the situation as I was.
“Don’t tell me,” I said, sinking back in my chair. “My mother told you that we were here for a blind date… and that I knew about this date.”
“Well, not in those words, but yeah. You didn’t know?”
I shook my head.
“Do you want me to leave?”
Did I? Heck yeah. I wanted to get up right then and there and walk out, but this poor guy... he didn’t know he’d been part of my mother’s scheming. He probably planned on having a nice evening at a yummy new restaurant.
“No. You don’t have to leave. But this would be a shared meal, nothing more. I’m not dating right now,” I said.
My words were mostly true. I wasn’t dating anyone, but also… I wasn’t closed off to dating. What I was absolutely, positively closed off to was being sideswiped with a random date I hadn’t asked for.
“Sorry, I didn’t know,” he said. “But since you offered and we are already here, I’ll take you up on the offer… if it still stands.”
Now I felt like a real jerk. “Sure.”
We ordered our food and had some of the most awkward date conversation I’d ever had. It felt like I was being interviewed fora job as a boyfriend, one I never applied for. But weirder than that was the way he replied to my answers, almost as if he were auditioning for the role of the “hot older single guy” on some sort of reality TV show.
Nothing about the two of us meshed, but the food was delicious, so there was that.
When the bill came, I went to pay for it, and he let me, which was fine. Splitting would have been better, since I hadn’t known it was a date. I wasn't one of those alphas-always-pay kind of omegas. There was nothing innately wrong with him getting his meal paid for.
Whatwaswrong was the way he reached for my hand as I got out of the chair. I’d been very clear about my intentions, and here he was, full-on ignoring them.
“I told you, I’m not dating,” I said. I felt bad rejecting him so bluntly, but he wasn’t taking any of my hints throughout the night or my words at face value. I didn’t have time for that.
“Who said anything about dating?” And then his hand went to my ass.
Oh, fuck no.“I’m going to go and make some reservations for my mom,” I said, because I couldn’t think of anything else to keep me inside while he left, and there was no way I was going to encourage him any further by walking out with him. Not that I’d been actively encouraging him to begin with.
“That’s fine. I’ll wait with you.”
“No, you can go.”
And then, the creeper tried to kiss me right there in the restaurant. I dodged him and walked to the front counter. I was not dealing with that crap.
“Do you need anything?” the host asked.
“Yeah, I need this blind date not to be my blind date,” I said it lightly, but meant every word. “Between you and me, I never agree to this one, and he still thinks it’s leading back to his place.”
“Oh, trust me, honey, I know how that is.” He leaned in closer and whispered, “I’ve got a grandmother who thinks I should’ve been married long ago. She’s relentless. Do you need me to walk you out?”
It was tempting, very tempting, but I could take the guy if I had to. I just didn’t want to deal with any of it.
“I’m just out back,” I assured him, and off I went. My sorry excuse for a date was still there. I just went straight to my car and left, pretending I didn’t see him wave. I had no patience for Kyle, tonight or ever.
I had my mother on speakerphone before I turned onto the main road.
“Did you have a nice time, dear?”
“Mother, how could you do that to me? We’ve talked about this.” So many times I couldn’t begin to count them. It was a good thing she was an amazing mother in all other ways, because argh.
“What? I helped set you up for a future.”
“A future? That guy was almost fifteen years older than me and he thinks he’s twenty.”
